Review: 'Alien: Romulus' is hard to resist
As we learned in the first "Alien" 45 years ago, in space, no one can hear you scream. That rule doesn't work at the movies, where "Alien Romulus" -- the seventh film in the franchise -- opens this Friday in theaters, where we can, should and will hear you scream your bloody head off.
Set between the twin peaks of the series -- Sir Ridley Scott's 1979 "Alien" and King of the World James Cameron's 1986 "Aliens" -- this so-called "interquel" shamelessly feeds off the DNA of both sci-fi horror classics. Look at it this way: If you can't have originality, you can still enjoy the serviceable funhouse horrors dished out by new director Fede Álvarez ("Don't Breathe").
Speaking of odious comparisons, no one will ever equal, much less surpass, Sigourney Weaver as warrant officer Ellen Ripley. For "Aliens," Weaver was nominated as best actress (an Oscar first for sci-fi) and I'll never forgive the academy for choosing Marlee Matlin over Weaver for "Children of a Lesser God." No slight on Matlin, but please.
Luckily, "Alien: Romulus" star Cailee Spaeny is not playing a guppie Ripley. The role for the young actress, who excelled as Priscilla Presley in "Priscilla" and a newbie photojournalist in "Civil War," is Rain Carradine, an orphan desperate to end her servitude on the Weyland-Yutani mining colony to live and work on a planet where she can actually see her future and the sun.
That would be on the farming planet of Yvaga. But before she can earn her travel papers, Rain is conscripted to do service on the disease-ridden mine with her droid brother Andy, fabulously played by British actor David Jonsson, one of the shining lights on TV's "Industry."
Andy has been programmed by Rain's late father with one purpose: to keep her safe. Good luck with that.
That's when Rain and Andy concoct an escape plan with a crew of young humans, including Rain's ex, Tyler (Archie Renaux), his sister Kay (a stellar Isabela Merced), who's been keeping her pregnancy secret, Kay's annoying boyfriend Bjorn (Spike Fearn), and Navarro (Aileen Wu), a pilot who thinks seizing a decommissioned space module named Romulus is their best ticket out.
Not so fast. First of all, in mythology, Romulus only founded Rome after killing his twin brother Remus. So that means chaos ahead as the crew encounters horrifying creatures from facehuggers and xenomorphs to every grotesque dripping monstrosity Alvarez can clone from H.R. Geiger's original alien designs.
And watch out, Andy suddenly has a menacing glint in his synthetic eye. Yikes!
Whether you cheer or jeer the use of artificial intelligence to resurrect a character from the first "Alien" -- sorry, no spoiler from me -- the AI will sure as hell grab your attention, not to mention a stern warning from SAG/AFTRA execs trying to protect actors from AI bodysnatching.
Kudos to Alvarez for mostly avoiding easy digital tricks in favor of practical effects that seem scarily real. After the thundering last third of the film, which turns up the terror to 11, you'll want to bolt for the shower to get the goo off. Yup, it feels that tangible.
Alvarez brings in so many callbacks to other "Alien" films that you may think you're watching a greatest hits reel. And though the filmmaker is clearly not averse to mining the series for a big box-office payoff, you can feel his fanboy passion for all things "Alien" in every frame.
That's hard to resist.
"Alien: Romulus" lacks the groundbreaking freshness to stand with the giants that are "Alien" and "Aliens," but you can do worse than this summer blast at the movies with old friends who look like they want to kill you. That's entertainment.
